Be courteous to all, but intimate with few.
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.
In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.
The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable.